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Access to justice for victims of corporate environmental degradation in Zambia : the case for public interest litigation
Mini Dissertation (MPhil (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2025.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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University of Pretoria
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613595787853824 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Maziwisa, Michelle |
| author_browse | Maziwisa, Michelle |
| author_facet | Maziwisa, Michelle |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| description | Mini Dissertation (MPhil (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/106998 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:38:39.160Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/106998 Access to justice for victims of corporate environmental degradation in Zambia : the case for public interest litigation Maziwisa, Michelle Jjuuko, Adrian munaviolet@gmail.com Munasinyungwe, Violet UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Environmental law Human rights Environmental degradation Environmental rights Access to justice Locus standi Mini Dissertation (MPhil (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2025. Section 4 of Zambia’s Environmental Management Act (EMA) provides that every Zambian has the right to a clean, safe and healthy environment. It also provides that any person may bring an action before the High Court of Zambia to seek protection against any harm caused or likely to be caused to human health or the environment. However, victims of corporate environmental degradation are often unable to access justice through traditional litigation, whenever this right has been violated or the environment in which they live has suffered harm because of corporate activities. It is on this premise that this dissertation argues that public interest litigation (PIL) posits as an effective legal tool that can be used by victims of corporate environmental harm to access justice. The dissertation finds that Zambia’s existing legal framework is quite comprehensive when it comes to protecting victims of corporate environmental harm and creating an enabling environment for PIL. However, the right to a clean, safe and healthy environment is only enshrined in statutory legislation and not the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land and cannot easily be amended. Conversely, statutory legislation such as the EMA can easily be amended. Moreover, to enforce this right in its current form requires that it be tied to a justiciable right enshrined in the Constitution such as the right to life. In its analysis, the dissertation also finds that there is a plethora of barriers that hinder victims of corporate environmental degradation from accessing justice. These include procedural technicalities on locus standi, failure to follow rules of procedure by parties to litigation, inordinate delays of cases, financial constraints on the part of victims and even their lack of legal awareness concerning their environmental rights. Political influence and corruption in the judicial system have also been identified as part of the barriers that victims face. In addition, the dissertation also analyses the effectiveness of PIL in South Africa and Uganda, countries that have enshrined this important right in their constitutions. In this regard, the dissertation finds that PIL has been successful in these countries through its liberalised standing rules which permit NGOs to bring actions to court on behalf of victims whose rights have been violated and even on behalf of the environment itself, as is the case in South Africa. In conclusion, the dissertation makes recommendations which include constitutional reform by way of including the right to a clean, safe and healthy environment in the Constitution and the introduction of an environmental court to enable environmental cases to be dealt with in expediency by judges with specialised expertise. Centre for Human Rights MPhil (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa) Unrestricted Faculty of Laws SDG-13: Climate action SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions 2025-11-28T12:15:10Z 2025-11-28T12:15:10Z 2025-12-10 2025-09-30 Mini Dissertation * D2025 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/106998 10.25403/UPresearchdata.30715598 en © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Environmental law Human rights Environmental degradation Environmental rights Access to justice Locus standi Access to justice for victims of corporate environmental degradation in Zambia : the case for public interest litigation |
| title | Access to justice for victims of corporate environmental degradation in Zambia : the case for public interest litigation |
| title_full | Access to justice for victims of corporate environmental degradation in Zambia : the case for public interest litigation |
| title_fullStr | Access to justice for victims of corporate environmental degradation in Zambia : the case for public interest litigation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Access to justice for victims of corporate environmental degradation in Zambia : the case for public interest litigation |
| title_short | Access to justice for victims of corporate environmental degradation in Zambia : the case for public interest litigation |
| title_sort | access to justice for victims of corporate environmental degradation in zambia the case for public interest litigation |
| topic | UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Environmental law Human rights Environmental degradation Environmental rights Access to justice Locus standi |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/106998 |